Headhunters: Good or Evil

Horus

Hello everyone,

I am in the job search after getting axed at my new job for unknown reasons. I got contact by both email and phone number by a head hunter who thinks they may have job openings in my area for my profession. I called them and I just heard the answering machine and sounds legit and their site seems legit. Seems to be a small company or a LA base. Their site seems informative and legit to my impression on what is a headhunter link

I just want to know what should I be concerned about them or what to do with them. I don't want my wages taken by them because they found me a job or a scam. How can I make sure I won't get screwed to send them my resume (they ask after viewing my monster resume to send them an updated one). Also they responded to my personal email not my monster account email, (way to filter spammers).

Thank you

Hlubocky

Obviously this may not be the case here, but in general, headhunters get paid a fee (often very large) by the company looking to hire, not from the person being hired.

Horus

How would I know if they are wanting to get my money? Any key signs?

kaliyama

uh,they'll tell you? Did you have some bad headhunter experience you're not sharing with us? If so, it might be useful to explain why you're so worried.

Horus

Nope just first time experience, just thats all I know about head hunters if they find you a job they take your money.

PeekingDuck

Recruiters are almost always paid by the company, not by you directly. The only way I would consider you "paying" them is if you considered the money paid by the company to the recruiter part of what could have been your salary, had you found the position yourself and negotiated to market price.

Use the recruiter, just realize that most of them are worthless.

Arch Guru XX

What industry are you in? I'm in the LA area and we're hiring, but looking for fairly specific technical (coding) skill sets.

DesertBox

My g/f is a recruiter. They charge the company that hires you, not you.

They also work for that company, not you, which according to her, is what most people don't understand. They don't exist to do you any favors. They're looking out for their client, which is the company looking to hire.

Horus

Well my background is Print/Web design, right now I am trying to work in Javascript and PHP expanding in programming. They contacted me about this company but did not give any information, I guess they are trying to figure out what I have and what list they got.

Thanks for the tips

noobert

Are you looking for full time or contract work?

I know in my fathers case, his agent takes a small percentage of his hourly wage. But he is contract based.

ceres

DesertBox wrote: »

My g/f is a recruiter. They charge the company that hires you, not you.

They also work for that company, not you, which according to her, is what most people don't understand. They don't exist to do you any favors. They're looking out for their client, which is the company looking to hire.

I know someone who learned this the hard way... She decided that she would quit a job she got through a headhunter because after a year she couldn't take it anymore, and she called that same person to see if there was any other work. Not only was she informed that the HH couldn't find her more work, but the HH also turned around and told her current employer that she was in the market.

I only have direct experience with temp agencies at this point, though, which may work a little differently.

Koan

headhunters are fine as long as they do not charge you, they are like a human resource contractor. Do pay attention to the above story though, I know of that same thing happening. It is the temp agencies and job search agents that are shady and take a cut of your money.

Zeon

ceres wrote: »

DesertBox wrote: »

My g/f is a recruiter. They charge the company that hires you, not you.

They also work for that company, not you, which according to her, is what most people don't understand. They don't exist to do you any favors. They're looking out for their client, which is the company looking to hire.

I know someone who learned this the hard way... She decided that she would quit a job she got through a headhunter because after a year she couldn't take it anymore, and she called that same person to see if there was any other work. Not only was she informed that the HH couldn't find her more work, but the HH also turned around and told her current employer that she was in the market.

I only have direct experience with temp agencies at this point, though, which may work a little differently.

Temp agencies absolutely work differently. Temp agencies create a labor pool and then match up people who are looking for jobs with people who are looking for employees. Head hunters go out and find people who may or may not be looking for a job for a company that is looking for employees. The main difference would be that you work for a temp agency, not the company you report to work at. When youre hired through a head hunter, you work for whatever company was searching for employees.

Head hunters also get one time check (or a salary, depending on how theyre related to the company) from the company youre now working for, while its actually the temp agency that employs you. They make their money by billing the company you go to work for, and then taking a percentage off the top of that.

Getting a job through a head hunter is usually an indication youre doing really well. Companies dont generally hire them unless theyre looking for very specific talent. Temp agencies on the other hand can be hit and miss, especially the places that take anyone for anything (i had one try to send me out as a forklift operator... here you need a licence for that), and some agencies will take huge percentages of your wage (upwards of 50% in some cases) and depending on how shady they are, refuse to give up your contract, which means you could end up missing out on temp to perm work because they dont want to lose their cut.

RoundBoy

Headhunters are cocks. You need to first seperate the HH that have a position they are submitting you for, to those just trolling for resumes.

You must follow up with them constantly, YOU must initiate all the contact after an initial meeting. I have had hh claim to put my resume into a company, but not. I have had them just drop all contact with no followup.

You are fine to work with a few, but don't discount submitting a resume yourself.

life3

RoundBoy wrote: »

Headhunters are cocks. You need to first seperate the HH that have a position they are submitting you for, to those just trolling for resumes.

You must follow up with them constantly, YOU must initiate all the contact after an initial meeting. I have had hh claim to put my resume into a company, but not. I have had them just drop all contact with no followup.

You are fine to work with a few, but don't discount submitting a resume yourself.

This is pretty much my experience as well. It's hit or miss. I've found submitting resumes personally to be far more effective.

Horus

life3 wrote: »

RoundBoy wrote: »

Headhunters are cocks. You need to first seperate the HH that have a position they are submitting you for, to those just trolling for resumes.

You must follow up with them constantly, YOU must initiate all the contact after an initial meeting. I have had hh claim to put my resume into a company, but not. I have had them just drop all contact with no followup.

You are fine to work with a few, but don't discount submitting a resume yourself.

This is pretty much my experience as well. It's hit or miss. I've found submitting resumes personally to be far more effective.

Yeah this is how I am filtering my Monster.com and Careerbuilder accounts have my spam email and grand central phone number so those hh and what not who really just skim through my information. For those who do read my resume will actually get my information.

But I will keep in touch with them and try to see what will happen.

Dog

I found my current job through a headhunter/temp agency. I temped for 3 months before I was hired on full time, that was 2 years ago and I'm still here. As others have said, it's all about separating the guys trolling for resumes, and the guys who actually have jobs for you.

INeedNoSalt

I was disappointed to discover that you were not being approached by a group of assassins.